Youthful Hijinks
by Laryna6
Summary: After the dust has settled, Dante and Nevan finally have children, three quarters demon children. Who take after their parents. Let the world tremble. Also featuring VL and AlastorTrish kidlets.
1. Fer and Verge

Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry.

I have been asked to join the staff of yet another C2, this one dedicated to stories about Dante's future children: after all, he certainly expects to have children given what he told Mundus at the end of DMC1.

I was the first person to post D/N to so I should write about their kids, as the C2's manager suggested. Here's my contribution to the C2.

Notes: the Sparda is a devil arm. So Sparda's soul is most likely in it, and according to Dante's game in Viewtiful Joe, which was created by the creator of DMC1, Eva's soul is in the amulet.

If Alastor can take human form from a devil arm, and given there are resurrection spells of various sorts in DMC, it's not unlikely that at some point Sparda and Eva can be revived.

And I am firmly of the opinion that Vergil wasn't killed in DMC1. DMC4 may or may not make that clear.

Also, this takes place in my fic-verse and I had Sparda's pseudonym be Lucian.

* * *

"Red and white streaks." Dante knew he was grinning like a fool and didn't care. "Phew, I was worried their hair would be pink."

"Pink?" Nevan laughed, reclined on the delivery couch. It had been an easy birth, no fleshly complications for a demoness. "You say the funniest things, sugar."

"And you love me for it." He checked out the older of the two babies like he'd heard every father did. Although he had more reason than most to be worried about them having the right amount of arms, legs, heads and so on. "They already have teeth and fingernails."

"Of course." Nevan sat up, some of her bats helping her and conducted her own examination of the younger-by-five-seconds twin.

"I thought dad said the spell he used on us so we'd be human as kids would take care of things."

"They're fingernails, sugar, not claws." She pried open the baby's mouth. "The teeth look about right too."

Dante checked. "Same here, not that I'm an expert." Three-fourths demon.

Vergil's kids would only be one fourth. Strange that he'd ended up marrying the human and Dante the demoness, given the ways they were messed up when they were younger. He was pretty sure someone out there was laughing at him.

That was okay, he looked back on his younger self and laughed too. He rocked the baby in his arms and his firstborn son laughed.

With an echo. "Uh, Nevan."

"I heard. Talk to your father about it." Nevan jiggled the younger one. "Who's a good nestling? You're a grand new nestling!" She nuzzled the baby's face. The baby gurgled and smiled.

Dante thought he had read in the development books that they weren't supposed to smile this quick or something? Hey!

"He bit me!" Dante grinned.

"They're hungry already?" Nevan smiled and held the younger one, Vergil to her breast. He bit. "Pass him here."

"But I just got him."

Nevan laughed. He loved her laugh. "Do you want to breastfeed?"

Uh, no. "Here." He passed over Lucian.

Nevan held him to her other breast after making a shallow cut in it with her nails. His kids drank blood.

That would have totally grossed him out, before. Now?

Well, like Lady said. He knew a lot of kind demons. He sat down on the couch next to Nevan and rubbed their heads, testing. The bone didn't feel soft.

He'd been a father for ten minutes and he was already paranoid about his kids being safe. Well, given what had happened to him and Vergil, that was justified, but they would have people to look after them even if he got killed, not that that was likely with Mundus dead. Their grandparents, Uncle Vergil, Aunt Trish…

Still, he was actually glad that they were showing demonic… hardheadedness?

"They look so fragile." He smiled down at them and their mother.

"They're not, sugar. They're our children." She was smiling softly despite the fact she had two mouths full of sharp teeth attatched to her like remora. If she was human, that would have to hurt. No wonder Mom hadn't breast fed.

The babies were making little sounds of contentment and curling a bit in Nevan's arms to get comfortable. "After all, sugar, you were taking on an army when you were nineteen. These two will actually have _proper_ training. Your mother's a brilliant woman but she had no idea how to teach you demonic powers."

Dante nodded. "I had to make it up as I went along." He'd learned a lot from Sparda, now he was back. "Not to mention I had my head up my ass about being half-demon and hating everything to do with it."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Dante." She rarely called him Dante: only when she was serious. This wasn't her usual serious tone of voice. She got rather sharp with him when he was stupid. It was hard for both of them to be fierce with these two around.

Though at the thought of anything happening to them he felt the demon in him rise. "I've told you before, it was no accident you survived. You're strong, smart. You've surpassed Sparda."

"There you go feeding my ego." He pecked her on the cheek. "You don't have to use flattery, oh mother of my children."

She laughed again, briefly. "I'm still amazed someone like you actually married a succubus."

"I would never do that to you. And I'm the traitor's son, remember? You might be the one who's marrying down."

"You're the legendary dark knight who killed Mundus now, sugar. If you went to the Underworld, you could rule it. Few would dare oppose you."

"The Underworld?" He snorted. "It's not even dad's home now."

Vergil pulled back and burped. They both laughed. The other one let go too. "Wonder what Vergil is going to say when he finds out we named the _younger_ twin after him."

"He probably won't care: you named the elder after your father."

"You're right." He reached out and took Vergil.

Vergil looked at him happily, and he was pretty sure their eyes weren't supposed to be able to focus yet. "I think he knows me."

"Of course he does. Nestlings need to know who is safe and who is not, otherwise they'll get eaten." She started to groom Lucian's hair. Then she frowned and whistled a few notes.

Bats flew over to both of them with some tissues. "Could you wipe the blood off of Vergil's face, sugar?"

"Sure." He took the tissues. "Thanks," he said to the bat. He carefully cleaned off Vergil's face and neck. "You're a messy kid already. Wonder if you'll take after me. I was a little hellraiser."

"No, that was Vergil, sugar." Nevan laughed.

Dante joined her. "Right." Vergil was nuzzling his chest, scenting him. He felt curiosity and a nebulous love.

Love, he concentrated on sending back.

He'd kept his demon senses shut off when he was younger. Had barely knew he was doing it, only felt anything when it was screaming at him.

He'd not wanted to know his mother's heartbreak, the pain of people who lost kin to demons, the inhumanity of demons, his own self-loathing.

He hadn't wanted to scent suffering and feel _hungry. _

But knowing Nevan loved him? That his brother still loved him despite him being an _idiot_ back then and failing to save him twice (Temen ni Gru and Mallet Island) before storming hell?

The baby gurgled happily and intensified his squirming. "Hey, careful there. I might…" drop him? No, he would never let Vergil fall. "What are we going to call you to keep you two straight? Little Vergil? Verg?"

"Verge sounds like a rock star name."

"Who knows? He might be one when he grows up. He could be anything he wants to." Not like him and Vergil, who had had to fight for their lives. Never like them.

He looked down at the child in his arms and the child in his wife's and renewed his vows.

There was a banging on the door. "Dante! You've had them long enough! I want to see my grandkids! Now!"

"Milady…" he heard Sparda's quiet voice.

"Grandkids. I'm officially an old woman now. I even died. I have a right to not want to waste time." Eva laughed.

Dante walked over and opened the door. Sparda, Eva, Vergil, Lady, Trish, Alastor, Lucia, Matier, his new baby sisters: everyone was waiting outside.

Eva held out her arms. "Gimme."

Dante handed him over, trying to tell the baby to stay calm. This was family.

Eva took him expertly and checked him over. "So cute! I'm going to hug you and squeeze you and call you—what's his name?"

"This is Vergil." His eyes met Vergil's. He looked surprised. Touched. Then he smiled.

"You couldn't think of anything better? I'm not surprised." It had taken a while for him to recover, but not even Mundus had been able to break Vergil's spirit.

Nevan had her bats cover her and moved to stand next to him with the elder. "This is Lucian."

Sparda bowed and Lucia smiled. "Thank you."

The babies, nestlings, were passed around and sniffed everyone. They took to it happily, the only blot on the evening when the sixteen-month-old Auntie Alexandra bit Lucian, who laughed and bit back.

The children were pulled apart, protesting by gurgling unhappily and waving their limbs. "They are already brave fighters." Sparda took Lucian, kissed him on the forehead in benediction, and allowed him to tug on his white hair.

Nevan seemed to relax at Sparda's approval.

"They're going to be little terrors." Trish poked Vergil's nose, making him look at it cross-eyed. "What I'm wondering is, what are they going to do without Mundus and his hordes to provide free punching bags? They're going to be horrible as teenagers, just mark my words, Dante."

"She's right Dante." Vergil rubbed it in. "Humans will always seek dark powers, but fewer and fewer devil lords think it worth their time or servants to ally with them."

"Arius worked on his own," Lucia pointed out.

"Arius only got that strong because Dante and the Guardian tribe were too busy to nip him in the bud." Vergil shook his head. "I tried to gain Sparda's power because once I defeated Mundus with it few would dare try to take over Earth. Now they would be facing all of us. Demonic activity has been decreasing for a long time now."

"Superpowered teenagers with time on their hands." Trish was grinning at him.

Eva looked a little worried. "You two were hard enough as children. I had to keep you busy all the time studying or training or you would come up with your own games."

Like trying to knock down trees like dominos.

Dante tried to laugh dismissively. "We'll be able to handle it. After all, Nevan here's got a few hundred babysitters."

"My twin and I had the whole of our parents' demesne to play in. You can of course let them play in the forests of my lands here," Sparda volunteered. "Their aunts already seem to like them."

He should look into buying a big chunk of the Amazon with his hunting money. Surely exploring that would keep them busy. He remembered inventing games with Vergil. Poor endangered species, but better twins then loggers, right?

Seriously. He'd killed Mundus. How hard could fatherhood be?

He was doomed.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

'Fer sat in a meditation pose, looking through the eyes of his bats. "It will be safe to move forward to the next spot in three, two, one, now!" They quicksilvered.

"Okay. Now tell me when to displace." Verge grabbed his brother's arm.

"Go ahead, I've already had the bat bring your illusion up to the camera."

Verge nodded and took them through the wall.

'Fer sighed. "I thought this place was supposed to be _secure._ Most two-bit excuses for sorcerers at least keep you from going through walls. Seriously, whoever they paid to ward this dump ripped them off. If they warded it at all."

"Yeah, this is no fun." Verge rolled his eyes. "Let's just get in, grab something and get out. At least we'll have bragging rights."

"Like you have trouble getting laid." 'Fer rolled his eyes.

"Hey. If you've got it, you've got it." Vie du Marlian chicks loved their gods.

"Dad's going to blow his top when he finds out we broke into Fort Knox." Which was, of course, the entire point.

Five minutes later, they were through the last wall. "Sweet. 'Fer, take some pictures! Hey!" Verge exclaimed as they were grabbed from behind.

"Boys. Since when is breaking and entering a 'school project?'" Dante grinned like a shark.

"Uh… it's a project on important sites in America for geography?" 'Fer laughed nervously.

"Yeah. Right. Guess what?"

"We're grounded."

"Worse. You're cleaning the fur of _all_ your mother's bats, that's what."

"How did you know?"

Dante sighed and shook his head. "Boys, the day you two willingly do a school project is the day the Underworld freezes over."

Seriously, these two. They'd be turning his hair white if it wasn't already.

* * *

Nemi said I should explain why his nickname is 'Fer. He refuses to be called "Lucy." "Luce" is too easy to turn into Lucy. 'An sounds like Anne, also a girl's name. Hence Lucifer, his first nickname,got shortened to 'Fer.


	2. Evan and Dan

Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry.

By semi-popular demand… Also, I'm Laryna6 on photobucket too, and if you go there there are candybar dolls of Lucian and Vergil. Also, Lucy is Lucian's hated nickname. He goes by 'Fer by preference. Oh, and Nelo Angelo's teleporting is referred to as a 'special displacement technique.' There actually is a bank called Sparda in Germany.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Father did well enough, but it's easier to hide one immortal than a dozen." Vergil sighed and pulled her closer. "I thought you didn't want children?"

"I don't like the idea of waddling around for nine months." Lady made a face. "But… I suppose I want children for a lot of reasons." She touched his face. "I want your children. They say people live on in their children."

Vergil sighed. Lady had refused to have a demon's immortality, and there was no way he would change her against her will. She was healthier than most mortals thanks to the priestess' tainted blood, and she was in perfect shape, he thought as his eyes trailed along her body, but eventually she would die. He kissed her on the cheek. "Something for me to remember you by?"

"I don't want to leave you alone. If you had our children, maybe…" She shook her head. "Can we please not think about this tonight?"

"Lady, this is something we have to think about. Children are a huge responsibility." One that scared him. Father and Mother had both done their best, but even so he and Dante had been left alone. He didn't want that to happen to his children.

If Father could die, so could he. Mundus was dead now, Vergil shuddered at the thought of Mundus getting his hands on his child. There were other reasons he shouldn't have children, especially with Lady, but when had he let shoulds stop him?

"They'll have the whole family to look after them. Dante and Nevan's children are being spoiled rotten. They'll have the best training in the world. And we're smart, we'll figure it out if Dante can."

"I suspect Nevan is the one masterminding matters." Vergil smiled.

"Vergil, I've been thinking about this for months. You don't have to decide tonight." She kissed him.

He regarded her and slowly pushed her down on the bed.

Having children was a perfectly normal thing to do. They were in love, they had a stable marriage, they were wealthy, and healthy.

He realized he wanted children. He knew his hesitation was leftover fear.

Mundus was dead. He wouldn't let the memory deny him anything. Especially not love.

He blessed Sparda's blood as he drank down her lust and gloried in the 'human taint' of love.

- - - - - -

They moved toward each other as one, their gauntleted fists colliding, pushing against each other as their eyes showed the effort and focus. Ribbons of white light and tongues of flame arced in the air as the Devil Arms summoned their powers to aid their wielders.

They realized it was a stalemate at the same instant and flipped back before jumping at each other again.

"Evan, Dante! Get down here! It's time for target practice," Mom shouted up at them, hands on her hips.

They bounded down off the roof, putting away the gauntlets in their training coats. It wasn't safe for the gauntlets to be out around Mom. Ifrit's fire was too hot and Beowulf's light gave her sunburn.

They took out the targets easily, Evan shooting them behind his back and Dan yawning exaggeratedly as he also did trick shots. Guns weren't as fun as getting up close and personal. "I don't see why we have to learn this stuff. Father doesn't use guns," Dan muttered to Evan. "And it takes away our practice time from real weapons." They had to sneak out at night for extra practice. Father knew but didn't tell Mom.

"Even your father needs a long-range weapon, he just uses those conjured swords." Oh great. Mom heard him. Incoming lecture. "Which you don't have enough demonic power to use effectively. There are also some demons that are immune to close-range weapons."

"I can use the swords! See?" Evan shot one at a target. And missed. D'oh.

Mom just raised an eyebrow. "And that used up how much of your power? How many times do I have to tell you, you have to keep your power in reserve. Save it for when you need it instead of relying on it."

They nodded. "Yeah, Mom."

"Keep practicing." She pointed to the rocket launchers. "And quit fooling around."

Dan and Evan headed for the roof again while Mom started to do her own target practice. Finally Dan got a direct hit on Evan. "Score!"

Evan waited for his arm to grow back. It took a couple seconds. "I'll get you for that!" He lunged forward and got Dan with the bayonet.

Dan danced back then used the rocket to propel himself high into the air like Mom had shown them. Dad could get this high by jumping and jumping again. Dan was worried that was one more of the tricks they would have to wait until they were older to have enough power to use.

Man, Verge and Lucy were lucky they were three-quarters. _They_ had demonic energy to burn. And bats and wings were cool. Dan couldn't make up his mind which he wanted.

After all, if humans could become demons there had to be ways a one-quarter demon could become at least half, like Father. Not that he'd let Mom know he was planning that. She'd give him a lecture about how humans weren't weak. After going ballistic.

Sure, Mom wasn't weak. Mom was great, even if she was stupid about refusing to become a demon. Dan didn't want his Mom to die. One time he'd hugged her and seen a gray hair. She'd said it was their fault for acting up that it was there. He'd been perfectly behaved for a week. Mom was the exception that proved the rule, however. Well, her and Grandma. But Mom had to work really hard to be as tough as she was. He'd seen her and Father spar. Father could take her with both hands tied behind his back. He went easy on them, too.

Speak of the devil. Father had jumped up on the roof and was heading over from the opposite side of the house. He stood on the ridge of the roofline, arms folded, and regarded them impassively.

They both tried harder, the friendly match becoming deadly serious. A word of praise from Father was worth fighting for.

The sounds from inside the firing range ceased and Mom came out, calling up to them, "Okay, practice is over! You need to shower if you're going to be ready for school on time."

"Okay, Mom!" They jumped down, Father following.

Mom's face lit up. "Hello Vergil."

He displaced right up to her, grabbed her and kissed her.

Eew, gross. Parents kissing.

School was boring as always. They learned things really fast (another benefit of being part devil) so they read books under the desks in their classes. The teachers didn't mind since they were still listening with half an ear and could answer questions when called upon. It was better than them acting up.

Socialization and learning to deal with humans? Sure, their friends were great but why couldn't they just go to lunch and recess instead of having to sit though lessons? At least Lucy, Verge and Gemma had to suffer with them. Although Verge and Lucy were seniors. Only one more year to go while Dan and Evan were only freshmen. Gemma had it worse, she was in the junior high attached to the high school.

"Lucy, I'm home," Evan said, grinning, when they spotted Lucian at recess.

He glared. "You. Me. The woods behind Grandfather's castle. Next week. The pounding of your life."

Evan slumped. "Next week? Why?" He had wanted a sparring match right after school.

"Me and 'Fer are grounded," Verge announced proudly. Whispering, he added, "We broke into Fort Knox."

"You did? Sweet!" Evan high-fived him.

"You did and you didn't take us along?" Dan was devastated.

"Uh, sorry? Didn't want to get you in trouble too. Uncle Vergil is scary." 'Fer shuddered.

Dan knew the real reason was because they couldn't do anything useful, magically. They would have been dead weight.

"You're lucky you got the cool Mom." Evan sighed. "Mom never lets us do anything. We only get to fight or practice three hours a day! How unfair is that?" He looked at his watch. "Well, I've got to get to the library," he said, scarfing down the last of his lunch.

Gemma arrived just as he was leaving. "There's a chess club meeting today?"

Evan nodded. "We're all going to be playing three games with timers. It's going to be so cool. You guys should learn chess. Grandfather would love to have more people to play with."

"It's a nerdy game." 'Fer rolled his eyes.

"You play Magic. That's nerd poker," Dan pointed out in defense of Evan. "And Grandfather's not a nerd."

"You? Are so dead." But 'Fer didn't bother to glare. "I'm going to go see if there's anyone stupid enough to challenge me today." He walked off, a predatory grin on his face.

Gemma sat down in the vacated space, next to Dan. Vergil started singing, "Dante and Gemma, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…"

"Shut up!" They both yelled at Verge, who just grinned.

"Come on. The poet Dante married Gemma. It's _faaaated. _You cannot resist!" He made pseudo-mystic gestures with his hands.

"He's my cousin!" Gemma swatted him.

Verge didn't even flinch. "Only by adoption. You two have it bad. Admit it."

Gemma's hand started to glow.

Verge's and Dan's eyes widened and they grabbed her hand to cover it. "No powers!" Dan hissed.

"Not at school! We can fight next week," Verge agreed.

Gemma looked totally embarrassed. "Please don't tell Mom and Dad!"

"No way." They might try to kill each other on a regular basis, but none of them would rat on each other.

Dan had drama club after school. They were doing a production of MacBeth. Gemma had joined the club and was going to be one of the wyrd sisters, but everyone knew she was a horrible actress. It had to do with demons being fundamentally honest. Gemma was almost pure demon (Aunt Trish was, they were pretty sure, part human since she could cry. After all, she'd been meant to imitate a human.).

Dan was tutoring her, but she'd never get anything but bit parts. He loved acting. That was one thing about becoming more demonic, would he lose his ability to become the character?

He wanted to learn to shapeshift so bad! That would be so cool, to impersonate people! He'd asked Grandfather but was going to have to wait until he was older. That sucked.

Uncle Dante had contacts from his rock star days and Dan knew he might have a shot at being a movie actor someday. He had the looks for it, and everyone said he was brilliant.

Father was dead set against it. He didn't like the fact that the family was so well-known, between the bank and Uncle Dante.

Evan wanted to be a professor, he just couldn't make up his mind as to what. He was thinking Comparative Literature, since that way he could study all the stuff about Grandfather.

Mom seemed not to approve of that, for some reason. It might have something to do with their other Grandfather, the one that had tried to steal Grandfather Sparda's power while he was asleep in the sword. No one talked about him much, but Evan had dug up old records online.

One of Evan's friends from chess club walked home with them: her parents made her do it to get exercise. Evan flirted with her, but then Evan flirted with everyone. He might be the older twin but he didn't act like it.

The four of them practically had a fan club. It was totally embarrassing. Evan was the only one who took advantage of it, though. He practically dated a different girl every week.

Even Gemma was starting to attract attention. Dan growled at the though of it.

The girl stared at him. He tried to act casual and she looked away.

Phew. It was just like Grandfather's shadow. People didn't see what they weren't looking for. The times they had all messed up as kids…

Well, Dan was a good actor. He could do human.

Especially since it was almost the truth.


	3. Gemma

_Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry. You can tell by the way these kids will never show up in it._

_And I was so sure I posted this on Friday. shrugs New one this weekend._

-

They lay together on the roof under the thunderstorm, watching the lightening flashes and hearing the thunder roar. It sang to them, the currents of electrons, the dance of charges, power surging from the earth and the sky.

On nights like this, Beowulf took Cerberus out on jobs by himself.

Trish and Alastor had the roof of one of the warehouses staked out, Dante and Nevan had claimed the other when they hooked up.

They lay on waterproof cushions and Trish considered her biological clock.

She was a demoness, she barely had biology.

Both she and Alastor had cried once. So…

Dante's old saying aside, she was coming up on her tenth birthday. Way, way too young to have children. If she was a human.

She looked in her twenties, optimum time for childbearing, and Dante said she was mentally mature too. More mature than Alastor, and he was over three thousand.

Oddly enough, she liked children. Dante had left her behind to guard some brownies one time (they'd been on a camping trip in the wrong place at the right time for a sorcerer looking for virgin sacrifices – you had to grab them younger and younger these days), and she'd had a lot in common with them. They were both figuring things out.

She'd been asked if she had a crush on Dante, and actually gotten some decent advice.

If only…

She'd given up years ago. Too much baggage, and Nevan had already staked her claim. The instant Dante had time to consider something besides vengeance and his blood family it had been like gravity.

Anyways, she had Alastor. "Do you want to have a kid?"

"A nestling? But we don't have our own place to build a nest."

"We could buy one. We both get salaries." Man, she was a demon and she knew next to nothing about demon customs, even though Alastor and Nevan were the same kind as her.

"Sure. How many?"

"One?"

"Only one? Oh, you want to do it the human way?"

"What were you thinking."

"Well, we're both young, so a hundred seemed like a nice, manageable, round number."

"…Let's leave it at one. Do you really think it's a good idea?"

"Well, we're not in Sparda's class but we're both very powerful. We should be able to kill anything that tries to eat it."

This was the human world, so that shouldn't be a problem. "I'll ditch the pills and see Sparda about that spell to have human-looking offspring tomorrow."

"We are still on for sex tonight?"

She straddled him and started tearing off his robes. New ones would just appear the next time he turned human.

-

Gemma put her hair into the two ponytails on either side of her head. Leaving it down made her look freakily like Mom and Grandma. She decided to leave her black exercise top from training on, it left her stomach bare but she'd be wearing a coat and sweatshirt most of the day: it was snowing outside and she had to pretend she was freezing.

She changed her pants to black slacks and put on a silver chain belt, then twirled around in front of the full-length mirror. She looked damn good. Only she wasn't supposed to say damn.

She finally left her room. "Mom, Dad! I'm getting a ride with Emily to school!" she yelled outside their door.

"Did you walk Cerberus?" Mom poked her head out the door, yawning.

"Yeah, and I practiced with Dad so I'm not hyper at school." Gemma nodded.

"Good girl."

"Mom?"

"Yes?" Mom was awake now and was about to head for coffee, her head poked almost all the way out the door and wearing her black terrycloth bathrobe.

"Since it's poker night can I stay over at somebody's house?"

"Whose house?" Gemma wasn't allowed to stay over at normal people's houses until she stopped frying circuits when she had bad dreams.

"Uncle Vergil or Grandpa's. Uncle Dante grounded Lucian and Cousin Vergil."

"I heard about that. He had to deactivate the wards so they didn't get fried and your Grandfather got a formal complaint from the US government."

"Anyways, since Joe, Sylvia and the others are going to be here you're going to be busy."

"If someone invites you then you can go. Just call us after school."

"Yes Mom! I gotta go!" Gemma ran to the door and walked over to Emily's. Emily had just moved into town so Gemma was trying to make her feel welcome. Her parents were pagan, which was really cool, but they didn't worship anyone Gemma knew, which had been disappointing.

Her house was only two blocks away, so Gemma was there in a flash (only not literally because her parents hadn't taught her that yet). She knocked on the door. Ow! Her hand stung. She rubbed it to make the pain go away and Emily's dad opened the door. "Hello. Are you Gemma Donar?"

Gemma nodded. "Emily said I could ride to school with you guys?"

"One second. Emily!" he called up the stairs that Gemma could see through the door.

"One minute, Dad!"

"Gemma's here! So, is there any chance of a carpool?" he asked Gemma.

She shook her head. "My parents always make me walk."

"Maybe we should do that. So, who are your parents?"

"My Mom's name is Beatrice, but she goes by Trish and Dad is Alistair but they call him Al."

"Gemma, I've heard that name somewhere." He frowned. "Beatrice… Oh! The _Divine Comedy_. The poet Dante loved Beatrice but married Gemma instead, and he wrote the poem partly about coming to terms with that."

Gemma nodded. "Yeah. My uncles are called Dante and Vergil, too."

"My, that's clever."

Gemma shrugged.

"I'm ready, Dad! Hi Gemma!" Emily waved from behind him.

Gemma waved back. They all got in the car and Gemma got to watch the scenery go by. She was old enough now she never broke cars anymore. It was embarrassing to break stuff, like wetting the bed.

"So, what do your parents do?" Mr. Mariano asked.

"They run a detective agency." Sort of.

"Really? What's it called?"

"Devil Never Cry." And she should definitely change the subject. "What do you do?"

"We work for Oak Circle Supplies. They run a chain of occult supply stores. We're Wiccan." He looked at her to see if she cared.

"I know, Emily told me. It sounds cool."

"You could come to a circle if you like."

Gemma shook her head. "My parents don't want me messing with the occult." Some of that stuff worked a little, and she could get hurt if somebody had a talisman.

"With a name like Devil Never Cry?" He laughed.

"The first agency was called Devil May Cry. It's a pun on devil-may-care. Mom used to be a partner with Uncle Dante and then she started her own." Oh, right. They must have warded the threshold. That was why her hand had stung.

Curses! That meant she couldn't go over to Emily's house ever.

"Oh, Gemma! Is it true?" Emily looked breathless.

"Is what true?"

"That your uncle is Dante von Schwärzung?"

"Yeah."

"That's so cool! Your uncle was a rock star! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Not really star. He just recorded a few independent albums that did okay." She shrugged. "He's really good on drums and guitar, but he was too old to be a superstar even though he's really great looking."

"Can I meet him? Would he play for me?" Emily pleaded.

"I'd love to hear him too. I'm the one who got her hooked on his stuff. Your parents don't want you messing with the occult and he's your uncle? His stuff practically flies off the shelves in our stores!"

"It's not that they're Christian, but they've seen a lot of really weird stuff on cases and they don't want me fooling around in case there is something to it and I get hurt," Gemma explained.

And luckily they were at the school.

"Thank you, Mr. Mariano! Do you know how to get to your first class, Emily?"

"I think so. Olmstead Hall is the big white building, right?"

"Yeah. And that one's easy to find your way around in. See you at recess?"

"Can we eat lunch together?"

Gemma shook her head. "I always eat lunch with my cousins. They're all in the high school."

"Can't I come?"

"I'm really sorry, but it's always been just us for, like years now. Ever since Minnie and Alex."

"Minnie and Alex?"

"They're my Aunts, but they're only six years older than me. They already graduated."

"Oh. Well, will you come home with me after school?" Emily pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but…" Gemma realized she had left her sword at home. "Darn it! I was going to sleep over with my cousins, but I left something at home. Can I ride home with you? I can walk back to my house."

"Sure."

"Want me to ask if my cousins will let you sleep over too?"

"Is this Uncle Dante?"

"No, Uncle Vergil. 'Fer and Verge got themselves grounded. So I'm staying with _Cousin_ Dante and Evan."

"Oh. Well… I'll ask my Dad."

"It'd be really great if you could come."

Gemma showed her more of the school at recess. There wasn't Drama Club today, so when the bell rang they waited for Mr. Mariano to pick them up.

"Mr. Mariano? My cousins, they're a year older than me, said Emily could come with me to sleep over at their house tonight."

"Who are these cousins? Dante's children? Didn't he have twins?"

"No, these are Uncle Vergil's children, Lucian and Dante."

"Two boys? I don't know about this."

"Please? I've been doing it for years. Uncle Vergil would kill them if they did anything, Aunt Lady too. Not that they would."

"Aunt Lady?"

"She used to be a bounty hunter, but she's retired. That was her business name."

"Your family has the most interesting lives." Mr. Mariano shook his head. "I think I'd like to meet their parents first, sorry."

Emily objected, but Mr. Mariano was firm.

Gemma sighed and looked out the window. She'd get to see Dante soon.

And no, she did not have a crush on him!

"Do you want me to drop you off at your house, Gemma? I don't know where it is, you'll have to give me directions."

"That's okay, I'll walk the rest of the way. It's only two blocks."

"Okay." Mr. Mariano pulled into his garage.

Gemma screamed, and there was a flash of green light.

Mr. Mariano jammed his foot on the break. "What was that? Are you okay?"

Gemma tried not to breathe hard. "I'm fine, Mr. Mariano." She smiled reassuringly. She reached in her pocket. "I think the taser's broken again." She had the cover story memorized.

"Please please please let him think I'm acting odd because I'm was shocked! I wish I was a better liar like Cousin Dante! What does he mean, he's not any good because he is only one-fourth?" she thought rapidly. He was going to be stronger than her, he just needed to grow up more.

"You carry a weapon around at school?" He stared.

"My grandfather owns the Sparda bank, so my family's worried about me being kidnapped." She smiled weakly. "It just startled me, it wasn't a very strong shock." She was going to have to ask Dante to come up with some reason for her to stop being nice to Emily. Her parents were going to kill her for taking this risk! She'd known they were pagan and might have old talismans! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Are you sure you're okay? I'll drive you the rest of the way home."

"Thank you. It's a right, then it's the house at the end of the block with the gate."

Mr. Mariano dropped her off at the gates, apologizing to her father, and drove back home. He noticed a thin trail of smoke rising from above the garage door.

The bronze warding seal was half-melted.


	4. Mini & Alex

_Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry. _

_I think this might be the last one for a while… not sure. I really should come up with a plot. I need to do more stories with plots. One-shots are just easy. _

_There actually is a bank in Germany called Sparda. _

- - - - - -

"Good morning." Sparda rose from his desk to kiss her briefly.

Eva's hand took his arm, squeezed and kept hold. "Pinch me."

He complied.

She shrugged, mouth twisted wryly. "Still feels like a dream. I never really believed in heaven. Immortal souls and all that nonsense."

"It's basic physics for us. Humans die, their souls come to the Underworld, we drain them and they return to be reborn."

"The Underworld equivalent of the water cycle. Or mana from heaven. This is the realm of light." She nodded.

He tugged at her lightly and she let herself be pulled into his arms. "You did not think I would let you be lost to me forever."

"I agreed to put my soul in your keeping, didn't I? I trusted you." She smiled and nuzzled the soft fabric.

"I failed you once. Never again. You will not die again." And all the will that had first defeated Mundus behind that promise.

"I know." She had known what that would mean. She'd never agreed to become a demon, a god, whatever. But she'd let her soul be bound to the amulet, knowing but not admitting to herself that he would not be able to let her simply rest there forever.

And it hadn't been enough to merely watch over her children. She'd missed movement.

More than anything she'd missed him. Anything was worth staying with him forever.

"I trust you. Speaking of trust," and now she put her hands on her hips, "Where are my girls?"

"Pardon?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten. We were going to have a boy and a girl, then the boy turned out twins. So you owe me two girls, buster."

"Don't you think we should wait until we have caught up with the world? It has changed much?"

"No, because the world thinks we're in our sixties. Much more and we'll be old enough it would be too weird to adopt."

"Adopt?"

"No one's going to believe I can still have a kid," she pointed to herself. She needed a spell to make her look older when she went out. She looked good with silver hair, like Sparda. "So we'll pretend to adopt."

"That is true, we will need to provide for our future identities. Dante or Vergil will have to pretend to have children at some point."

"They had better _have _children. I want grandkids. I also want _my_ kids. I miss motherhood. Reading and watching movies all day is too boring. I miss the constant hair-pulling of two too crazy kids to look after." She smiled nostalgically.

"I missed their childhood." He sighed. "I envy you."

"We both weren't there for them for so long… but we'll be there for these two." She squeezed him.

He nuzzled her hair, silently agreeing.

She relaxed against him, sighing contentedly. "Put those books away and come back to bed. I want to get started now." Death and imprisonment had taught her the value of time.

-

Minerva didn't consider it goofing off in class, although she sat in the back row so people didn't get distracted looking over her shoulder, unlike the people who were watching videos.

After all, this was a business class, and this was business. She listened with half an ear to the professor as she finalized the sale of a few of her stocks on her tablet.

So far she wasn't really impressed. All her friends in high school had been gushing about going to college, about how the classes would be far more challenging and they would get to choose to study interesting stuff.

Hopefully things would change when she got the intro courses and breadth requirements out of the way. The upper lever courses here were taught by the actual graduate business school's professors.

The big improvement about college, as far as she could tell, was that there was less of it. Only a few hours a day instead of most of them. Sure, most people in the pre-business major were struggling and spending enough time studying it worked out about even since there was a competitive curve (which she was breaking) that it worked out about even, but it came easily to her.

Half of that was the fact that her father ran a bank and she'd sometimes crept into his office and sat in his lap while he pointed out things to her. She'd loved spending time with him. So she'd learned this at her father's knee, literally.

He'd given them their own stock portfolios and bank accounts when they were five.

It wasn't quite as fun as sparring, but it was a competition, after all. Humans were no match for a daughter of Sparda.

So now she owned six companies, although she'd taken over and resold others. One of them had been bought out jointly by her and Alexandra when they were six. They created custom dolls, and the two of them had filled their rooms with them.

It was all practice, though. Someone was going to have to inherit the Sparda bank when Father 'died' and brother Dante, who had been the titular head while Father was 'dead' had no interest whatsoever in business and brother Vergil, who was the eldest and should technically inherit it was occupied with his kendo school.

So it was going to be her. And she was going to make her father proud.

So she waited for class to end. She wanted to get back to her room and get set up for the videoconference with the founder and manager of a successful community bank in Kenya that gave out loans to people who were starting small businesses.

Doing well by doing good. It was a family tradition going back over two thousand years.

She wanted to found her own bank like it in another developing country so she could get some practice in before she took over. Of course, her father would still be around to advise her. It was a matter of pride. Spardas, as brother Dante had told her, did everything with style.

-

Alexandra started the wheel and expertly centered the porcelain, movements precise and sure. She'd done this hundreds of times by now. Her parents had proudly replaced the china they used in the house with her stuff, and she'd given it as presents to her brothers and big sister back when she was learning.

She was strong enough the rotating clay didn't push her hands out of alignment. An unfair advantage, really, but then she had all sorts of advantages.

Stupid intro ceramics course that was a requirement to get to the interesting ones even though she'd submitted her portfolio.

She could go to LA, buy herself a studio and start selling to art galleries as herself right now, but no, her parents wanted her to go to college and Minnie pinned her to a wall until she vowed she would. A Sparda kept her vows.

So she kept making this stupid mug for the few more seconds it took until she stopped the wheel, took it off and headed for a table to attach the handle. They were letting them use _porcelain,_ one of the more expensive clays (although this was the cheap stuff) and one of the harder to work with to make _mugs_? Half the people in here were total beginners.

Okay, well, she had to make two more (only the best one would be graded), and that was the assignment for this studio session. She would stay around, though, until the end.

She loved playing with clay. Marble was better though.

"Alexandra, you're supposed to be working on mugs, not statues." Without turning around, Alexandra lifted the dampened paper towel she had laid over the mugs.

"Oh. Then why haven't you left?"

"I'm sculpting."

"Can I see your bust?"

A bust? That was going to be the next project? She stopped bending over her work and pushed her chair back from the table a little.

A moment of silence. "That's very detailed, Alexandra, but you're supposed to be making a bust of a person, not a full figure of some D&D creature."

Alexandra snorted. Her sister-in-law Nevan wasn't in D&D. She'd done a good job on her bat dress, though, for only fifteen minutes. "It's just for fun. I might submit it for extra credit."

"Oh." The TA wandered off when a student called for help.

Alex hummed to herself as she worked on the eyes with a fine tool. Distraction gone. This was what she lived for.

She should make this a matching set, it could be his next birthday present, it was coming up in a few months. Do Vergil and Lady to and she'd be set.

She always got a song for him. An exclusive one. When she finally got a gallery, she would use them as the background music in it.

-

"So how was your day?"

Mini cast her whip three times to open the fridge door, pull out the pitcher of water, and close it again before dismissing the whip and pouring herself a glass. "The conference went well. I think I impressed him, which means he's the third person who'll be putting in a good word for me with the project sponsors. I hate that I need to play politics and get people to see how great I am, otherwise they think it's nepotism." Back went the pitcher.

Alex shrugged. "That's cool and all, but I was talking about school."

"What about it?"

"Same as usual?" Alex already had orange juice.

"Same as usual. Is the Barber person still talking about all the 20th century theory stuff?"

"It's a class on the Renaissance. It's supposed to focus on the idealogies of the time, it says so in the syllabus, not a…" she drank her orange juice. "I swear, Mini, if you hadn't made me promise I would be arranging another gallery show now. Hell."

"It's only four years. We have eternity."

"Which means we'll probably be doing this again. And again. We're going to have to pretend to be… what? Our own great-grandchildren? Adoptees again? Being immortal is going to be a pain in the neck. People are going to call my style derivative of my famous ancestors'." She groaned. "And I'm not going to be able to kill them unless dueling becomes legal again. I was born too late."

"Technically, we should have been born over thirty years earlier." She reached for the paper. "If you hate the idealogues so much, why not major in something else? Like business. You've got the skills, you should use them."

"It's about art, Mini, not money."

"It's about you taking after Mother."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not, Dante does very well, even if he should reinvest in something instead of just buying rainforest to run around in. Although that is a good idea. The world is growing smaller. One of us needs to learn about technology, or we could be in trouble some day."

"Don't look at me, computers are too easy."

"Someone has to be responsible. We're going to be on this planet for a long time so we should keep taking care of it."

"Someone should be allowed to test out of business ethics courses."

"Someone bankrupted a company because the owner's daughter spread rumors about her." Mini shook her head. "I can't believe I was that immature." If Father ever found out she would never be able to face him again.

"I can't believe you were that immature either, even though she had it coming." Alex shrugged. "What _was_ wrong was you running me through. You killed me and damned me to torture."

"It's only four years. Deal." Mini wasn't impressed.

"You're the businesswoman, deals are your thing."

"It's not like you're a starving artist. You sell stuff all the time, 'Protector of Man.'"

"What can I say? I'm trying to beat Dad in the contest for all time worst pseudonym." Alex laughed.

"Vergil's right, at some point somebody's going to find out." Mini groaned. "We're all exceptional people and we're not staying hidden like we should."

"Hey, Vergil's not exactly hiding his light under a bushel basket either. People are fighting to get into his swordfighting school." Alex shrugged. "I'm an artist, I know what people see, and they won't see us. They already think they know what we are."

"We're going to be around for millennia. Someday, someone is going to blow our cover." Humans might irritate her, but she didn't want to move to the Underworld. They might go there on occasion to visit Father's family, but it wasn't her home.

Humans might be annoying, but she didn't want to abandon them to their own stupidity. She didn't want them to suffer.

Poor people starving, despots, no human rights… she didn't want to take over the world, but money was power.

She had centuries to make a difference.

In her most hubris-filled moments, she wanted to be thought of alongside Father as one who had helped humanity.


	5. Baldur

_Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry. _

_Well, yay for crack pairings. I did another fic with these two that I basically got dared to write, and then someone asked me to complete the set in this fic. And I'm like, this fic is offbeat already. Most people who know me know I'm nuts. So I'll say hello to anyone who actually reads this. And all this started with one request. I really am easy._

-

Lucia examined herself in the mirror. There definitely was a bulge. She'd seen other women of the Guardian Tribe have children, she knew the timing was about right.

She hadn't wanted to tell Matier. She didn't want to get her hopes up.

The numbers of the Guardian Tribe had dwindled over the centuries, and the blood had thinned with so many marrying outside the tribe. Arius had waged war against the tribe, killing all he could get his hands on until Matier had to admit they could not stop him themselves and call on Sparda's son for help, despite the fact he had told her he wanted nothing to do with them when he was younger.

Lucia didn't understand how he could have hated being Sparda's son, of the blood of the gods. Here, it was something to be proud of.

She'd been eating a lot recently, craving red meat. It could just be that she was gaining a little weight.

With how much he exercised? Even with Arius gone there were others who wanted to take his place and steal the power of the gods for themselves, and with the tribe so weakened… she was the best they had.

If Matier knew, if Matier even _suspected_, she would be kept home. Cosseted and coddled.

The timing was right for the child (if it was a child) to have been conceived when she was sent to appease the god that Arius had offended, the one called Despair Embodied as homage to his strength.

She wasn't of the blood of the gods, not truly, even if she was human enough to cry.

But her child?

The entire island would celebrate his, or her, birth.

She didn't want all the fuss over nothing.

There were battles to be fought, she was the Protector of Vie du Marli. She couldn't stay home and let others do her duty. She had been so ashamed that they had needed to call on the son of Sparda, knowing it was because she wasn't enough.

She was no Dante.

Her child would be half god, half whatever she was. Their children, their children's children… the bulge on her otherwise perfect body might be the salvation of the Guardian tribe, a new and more powerful Protector.

She should tell Matier, stay home and not risk that hope in battle. Who would take her place?

Dante would be willing, but she didn't want to impose on him. Again.

No, she had thought she was expendable. She wasn't. Matier was her mother and would mourn her. The people she Protected needed her. Her child was even less expendable.

She put her hand to her stomach. Her child would be born to the power Arius tried to gain. How ironic. In a way, this was Arius' grandchild. Her creator.

She was Lucia, not Chi. She was Matier's daughter as well.

And she should let Matier know she had a grandchild.

Under her hand she felt slight movement, something so subtle she doubted a human would have felt it.

-

"Your form is off. Again."

Baldur summoned his powers and charged, body encased in armor of light and arm changing to a sword that clashed against his tutor's.

The blademaster sidestepped, whirling the sword to attack the junction of Baldur's blade and arm. Baldur turned himself sideways, becoming a smaller target and dodging the attack.

"Better." Vergil nodded. "Matier and Lucia have trained you well."

"Thank you." He bowed. A compliment from the sword god's son was hard to win, he had learned this already.

"You mostly practice against Lucia and Matier, correct? How much experience do you have with guns?" Vergil frowned.

"Sir Dante has honored me by sparring with me when he visits. Other than that, our tribe does not use guns." Was Vergil implying he should?

"Now that Mundus has been killed there are two threats to earth. One, the chaos in the Underworld." Vergil paced. "Hundreds have arisen trying to take Mundus' place. Conquering Earth, which Mundus failed to do would give whoever accomplished it a huge source of souls and hence power. Also, the fame of having defeated us would make the other claimants back down. To face them, you will need to master your powers as a devil."

Baldur nodded.

"The other threat comes from earth. Humans have always wanted power and immortality. With the chaos in the Underworld, they see chances to steal the power of devils, or make pacts with devils for mutual advantage."

This was nothing new. "Many of them attack Vie du Marli, because we have ways of contacting the gods. My mother guards against them. It is our duty to protect the gods and the people."

"Only the powers of a devil can stand against a devil. You need to master the powers you have inherited. However, you will also be fighting humans, and humans do not fight fair. They don't have the power and advantages we have. They use guns, explosives, curses. Matier is a master of spells, she is teaching you to defend yourself against them, yes?"

Baldur nodded again. "She says I have a lot of potential, but I can't use most of it or exert much control I can change to my divine form, alter it, and channel raw power, but I need to carry protective items."

"Dante and I have still not grown into all our power. Devils take centuries to become adult, we part-breeds are lucky enough to grow to maturity as fast as humans. Otherwise, Mundus would have easily won." Vergil's face hardened. "I know you want to protect, but _pick your battles_. No matter how powerful you are, millennia of experience defeats raw power unless it is truly overwhelming power."

"Yes, sir." He bowed in acknowledgement, long red hair slipping over his shoulders. Wait, when had it come out of the tie? He replayed their bouts.

His keen eyes found the tie, sliced through, lying on the ground. Vergil must have cut it so fast… and without cutting his hair.

Vergil placed a hand on the sheathed Yamato. "Another match. Prepare yourself for defense."

Baldur got in guard position. Vergil blurred.

Above him! He dodged to the side but was still hit by Yamato's sheath. The next hit got him in the face, too fast for him to grow horns to block it.

He had no chance at defeating the older, stronger god so he did the best he could to defend against the blows. That was the point of this lesson, he needed to learn to defend himself, that was the most important thing right now.

He'd been ambushed twice.

It was a lot easier to steal the power of a god when they were already in this dimension: no need for a portal that the spells set by the Guardian tribe, human warriors, and Sparda's blood might detect and come to attack.

The first time had been when he was six. They'd underestimated him and the fires his powers had caused had alerted Mother to where he was. She'd killed them all.

Then she had grabbed him and told him to never, never again wander off.

Matier had cursed him to punish him when they got home.

But he never wanted to see Mother cry.

The second time had been in the city, when he was shopping. He'd killed them himself.

The crowd had kneeled to him after seeing him use his powers. He'd waved awkwardly. He always needed to disguise himself when he went to the city, otherwise he would be mobbed.

No wonder Sparda and his blood hid themselves, although they deserved to be worshipped by the whole world for what they had done.

He jumped up into the air, but the flat of Yamato was there for him to slam into. He had horns this time, however.

Vergil was suddenly at the other side of the courtyard. "The session is over."

He darted a glance at mother and Matier, who looked proud of him. So he hadn't done too badly, even though he had only landed a glancing hit… and left himself open for a 'fatal' blow from Vergil.

"Experience is the best teacher. I was far more advanced than you at this age, but I was living on my own. You've only been attacked a few times. Be grateful, even if it has slowed your progress." Vergil sheathed Yamato. "However, you have the advantage of tutors instead of being self-taught in your powers."

"Yes sir."

"Your father is also weaker than Sparda."

Sparda had defeated Mundus, who had been an incredibly powerful god, if an evil one. So had his son Dante. Of course their blood was stronger.

"However, that is no excuse for not trying to land a blow on me."

"But… you told me to defend."

"I told you to work on defense. That was a sparring match. You should have tried to _win._"

"Against you? I would have no chance."

"Never say that. Never accept defeat. You will be fighting devils with millennia of experience and humans with tricks and deceptions. If you lack confidence, if you know you will lose, you _will."_ Vergil's eyes hardened. "Someday you might find yourself in a hopeless battle. I hope you will not disgrace your family."

Vergil had fought Mundus alone, without Sparda's power, to keep Mundus from catching up with Dante and taking him too before Dante left the Underworld. He'd doomed himself to protect his brother and give the world a fighting chance: Sparda's power in the hands of one of his sons. He had first wanted to use Sparda's power to defeat Mundus himself, but if Dante could beat him he knew he couldn't beat Mundus.

And to survive Mundus' torture and control with his mind intact? Enough to spare his brother and give him the other half of the Blood-Tear Key, the amulet that sealed Sparda's power?

Baldur could only wish for that strength. He bowed, wanting to kneel but the Spardas refused to be properly worshipped.

"The people of this island consider you their divine protector. If you fall they will lose heart. Failure is never an option. Remember, however, that losing is not the same as failing."

"I won't loose, sir."

Vergil showed slight approval and turned to Lucia. "I am willing to take him on as a boarding student, but he will mainly be trained by my wife with the human hunters. He needs to learn how to defend against human weaponry. Dante told me the last time he visited that Baldur was not able to guard properly."

"He's been practicing against my daggers and bombs as Dante said, Vergil," Lucia informed him.

"Bombs? Yes, that's good. He shouldn't learn guns himself. They're too easy and can become a crutch: with guns you don't need devil strength to defeat lesser demons and Dante, for one, used that as an excuse to not develop his full potential."

Baldur struck.

Vergil batted the long extension of Baldur that Baldur had struck at Vergil with aside with Yamato. "Better. I'll have you spar with my sons: they're at about your level." He nodded to Matier and Lucia. "If you'll excuse me, it's almost time for dinner."

"Thank you for honoring us with your presence."

"A pleasure." Vergil bowed and disappeared.

Baldur hoped he would be learning that. He changed his shape back to human and, now that Vergil was gone and he didn't have to honor the god properly or suffer the wrath of Mother and Matier, he jumped for joy.

He'd get off the island! Get to talk with the Sparda kin and strong humans! There were so few boys his age in the Guardian tribe.

He would probably be worked very hard, but he loved training!

This was going to be great! He'd been so disappointed last year when Vergil said he needed more training from Matier and Mother.

Mother came up and hugged him. He squirmed. "Can I go pack?" He couldn't wait!


	6. Drabbles

_Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry, Capcom does. Nor do I make any money from this._

_I was going to make this Despair/Lucia, but then I thought since people have been wanting more in the Youthful Hijinks ficverse I'd do some of my drabbles for the drabbles100 challenge on livejournal for it. _

_96. Hacking_

'Fer leaned back in his chair and whistled aimlessly as he thought. The annoying thing about fixing systems instead of just making new ones was that he had to deal with the bugs and the patches others trying to fix them had made. On the other hand, the confusion of code made it easy to hide his back doors into systems.

Minnie had been right, _someone_ had to go into computers, for the good of the family and the world. Just making it so search engines couldn't find any of the dangerous stuff about demons had made a huge difference.

_97. Victory_

"Well, I'd like to thank my uncle." Dan smiled, standing at the podium. "A lot of the people who voted for me for Best Actor probably thought they were voting for him." He paused, waiting for the laughter to quiet. "I'd like to thank my parents for teaching me the importance of discipline and hard work to achieving your dreams. And, most of all, I'd like to thank my wonderful wife Gemma for always helping me with my lines. It's easy to be romantic when I'm thinking of you, honey." He took out a ring. "Will you marry me, again?"

_98. Knowledge is money is power_

"One of the interesting aspects of our business model is that we're independent of the Federal Reserve rate. Unlike practically every other bank in existence, the Sparda Bank has had a policy since the beginning of neither borrowing from nor loaning to governments. Some of them object to this, but our mission statement is to provide loans to help _individuals_ develop themselves. The one exception to this is that my father, Sir Lucian, helped some developing countries during the Sixties so that the World Bank would not destroy their economies by dictating policy," Minerva lectured to the attentive conference attendees.

_99. Realer than real_

Alexandra looked around, satisfied, at the full gallery. "Marco, we're going to need more magnifying glasses, they're almost out."

"Sure, Alex."

People were using them to see the incredible detail in the paintings and sculptures: detail and vibrant color were hallmarks of the fantasy art movement Alex was credited with moving into the realm of fine art.

"The idea," she'd said countless times, "is to make the supernatural more real than 'reality.' After all, consider how many illusions are part of everyday life, how everyone constantly lives in denial. There are worse things out there than the monsters I depict."

_100. Dynasty_

His wives were fighting again. He never tried to step in, they'd all turn on him then. Baldur sighed and wished he'd stuck with only three. Three had been a nice number, but Hel was gorgeous and Sifid was wonderful with the children… he loved them all, and everyone was happy there were so many children to carry on the bloodline, but he wished they got along a little better.

Not that he objected to seeing them fight, preferably half-naked, he could just do without the shouted death threats while he was trying to sleep. It woke up the children.


End file.
